


The Book and the Battery

by critrolelove21



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Adorable Jester Lavorre, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cadeceus will eventually be there too, Caleb Widogast Deserves Nice Things, Eventual Romance, F/M, General fluff, Magic, Makeover, Molly and Caddy are friends, Molly is a flirt, Reader-Insert, Slow Burn, The events of episode 26 just dont happen, maybe eventual smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-10-13 11:17:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 5,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20581631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/critrolelove21/pseuds/critrolelove21
Summary: The mighty nein come across the reader on the road, and our favorite wizard seems to take an interest in you, but will he resolve his own issues before a flamboyant circus man gets to you?This is just a bunch of fluff I've been writing. It will probably get more serious as time goes on, and chapters will get more interest. I will be updating a lot at first, and then as I get more written!





	1. Beginnings

The Mighty Nein had been travelling on the road to Zadash for about a week, and the days were beginning to grow together. “I don’t know, Nott” Beauregard said, “ I don’t think that pocket bacon can go bad, it’s cooked after all”  
“Yeah but isn’t it gross to eat pocket bacon that was like, a year old?”   
“But it would get eaten before then” she said, when suddenly a figure in a long dress ran into the road in front of the cart. Beau quickly pulled back on the reins, the horses rearing back, while the figure seemed to cast a spell, and the very edge of the horse’s hoof seemed to bounce off the air a foot in front of her. Beau locked eyes with the girl just as she collapsed to the ground.  
Mollymauk jumped out of the cart. “What’s going on you guys?” and upon seeing the girl in the road “Who’s she?”  
“I don’t know,” Beau responded “She just ran out from the woods and then, collapsed”   
“What should we do?”   
“I’m not sure” At hearing all the commotion, Jester came to the front of the cart.  
“Who is she?” Jester asked  
“We don’t know” Beau and Mollymauk responded.   
“We should at least try to help her” Jester responded. “Maybe she knows something that could help us” Jester kneeled down next to your prone form and cast healing word on you, but you did not stir.   
“Maybe someone in Zadash could help us. Should we take her there?” Molly asked   
“I don’t see why not,” Caleb, who had come out of the cart said.   
Molly picked you up and carried you into the cart, setting you down on the stack of bedrolls and tents in the corner of the cart. And the Mighty Nein continued, just with one more, towards Zadash.


	2. The Book

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caleb appears, and the Mighty Nein decide what to do with you.

Caleb sat with your prone from in the cart while you travelled, reading one of his books. Jester often would be walking alongside the cart, but whenever she felt rested enough, she would hop back into the cart and heal you for one or two hp, but you never woke. You still had a pulse, though it was weak, and Jester didn’t want to give up hope on you.   
As the first day of travel came to a close, the Nein debated what to do with you. You had not stirred since you had collapsed in front of the cart, but you had a heartbeat, and sometimes, your eyes seemed to be moving under your eyelids, as if you were dreaming. “She must be feeling pretty bad, or she would be awake by now. Do you think she has been poisoned?” Molly said, looking at Jester.   
“Should we just leave her?” Nott asked  
“No!” Jester replied, “We can’t just leave her!”  
As they were arguing, Caleb began to get up, closing his book and placing his hands on the bottom of the cart to push himself up, one of his hands brushing against yours. As he touched you, you sat straight up, eyes opened, and in a hoarse voice you said “thank you”, and then you collapsed again.  
“Well, she’s definitely alive” Beau said, walking over to you, pulling back your eyelids to see if you would respond. You, just like before you woke, did not. “So, who is she going to stay with?”   
Nott, clearly feeling guilty about suggesting to leave you behind now that you had woken, at least temporarily, was the first to volunteer. “Caleb and I can take her, we have extra room in our tent. I am small, so it is easier than any other tent”. Nott walked over to you, brushing some of your hair out of your face.  
“Adopting another one, Nott” Jester teased.  
“What’s it to you?” Nott replied, placing herself between you and Jester, baring her teeth.   
“Leave Nott be, Jester” Fjord said, picking you up and moving you towards the tent that Caleb was finishing setting up.   
Caleb took off his jacket and set it on the ground next to his and Nott’s bedrolls. Fjord laid you down on top of the coat, and for the second time since your collapse, almost 10 hours ago, the Mighty Nein saw you move. You adjusted body to the coat, burying yourself in its warmth. “Huh, maybe she will be waking up soon” mused Fjord, walking out of the tent.


	3. The Battery

The night came and went quickly, at least until Caleb went on watch. He woke up, and saw that you has scooted towards him and were almost touching him. However, you were still stirring a little, your hands splaying and clenching to the coat. Caleb, looking at you a little closer, started to notice that you were glowing ever so slightly. He took 10 minutes to cast detect magic on you and he saw a strong amount of magic in you, of all sorts, but it seemed as if there was a deep dark hole in the center of your body. Suddenly, he remembered something that he had read in a book in his day at the academy.   
Caleb ran to Jester’s tent, shaking her awake shouting “Jester, I know how to cure her!”  
“What Caleb, why are you in here, can this wait until the morning?”  
“Jester, she is going to die soon if we don’t do anything!”   
“Okay, okay, okay, I’m getting up” Jester said, untangling herself from Fjord, as he slowly awoke, groaning. “Now, please get out”  
“Oh” Caleb said, noticing the mostly naked tiefling and half orc, backing out of the tent, covering his eyes, going to his own tent. He picked you up, carrying you out of the tent in his coat and setting you down near the fire.  
Jester came out of her tent, rubbing her eyes. “What is it Caleb?”  
“Watch this” Caleb said quietly, and with that he cast Magic Missile at you.  
“Caleb! NO!” Jester screamed, but as the missiles hit, a slight glow surrounded you, and you began to flutter your eyelids.   
“She is a battery, ya? She holds magical energy. She has clearly been abused. She would not be in this state unless someone drained her entirely. We need to put as much magic as we can into her. We need to wake all the magic users. She is going to die if we leave her empty for too long.:  
“I will stay here while you go wake them” Jester said, placing her hands on you, focusing on using her spells at the highest level, and pushing them into the core of your essence. Caleb came back with Fjord, Nott, and Molly. “I’m tapped,” Jester said, pulling back from you, “unless you want me to start using cantrips”  
“It won’t do much,” said Caleb. “I would like to make sure that we use the most we can right now” Caleb stepped up to you, slamming more magic missiles into you, and fire balling you.


	4. Awakening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The reader finally wakes! This is a super short chapter, I promise the next will be longer.

After about one round of Jester, Caleb, Molly, Nott and Fjord pushing all of their magical energy into you, you began to finally regain lucidity. “Who are you?”, your weak voice said, your eyes fluttering a little bit.  
“We are the Mighty Nein” Caleb said, but at that you looked even more confused. “We are the ones who healed you after you collapsed”  
“Thank you, I owe you my life” you said, staring up at Caleb  
“Why were you in the woods that day?” Jester asked, staring at you quizzicaly.  
“I was escaping the people who captured me. I had an opportunity to run, so I did”. Caleb did the remainder of his watch with you sitting in the cart, still wrapped in his coat, and you talked about the stars, the woods nearby, and the animals that the Nein had seen while they were travelling. However, when Caleb began to ask you about batteries, and where you were from, you shied away from answering.  
When the rest of the Nein began to wake, they saw you and Caleb sitting together on the edge of the cart, sitting silently. Frumpkin was on your lap, and you were petting him. Frumpkin was purring and seemed to be burying himself into your lap, and the Nein saw an actual smile on your face. As Jester began to pack together her things, she noticed Cleb looking at you in a way that she had never seen on his face before.


	5. Travel

Over the course of the next few days, the Nein really got to meet you. You kept trying to walk alongside the cart, but the Nein, mainly Nott, refused to let you walk alongside the cart. The first day of travelling was very calm, with the biggest event that day being the group having to sneak by some bears that you saw in the woods. You passed a few other travelling groups, which looked at you quizzically as you excitedly waved at them. You spent the day talking to Nott, who was driving the cart, asking her about all of the adventures that the Nein had, and Nott explaining some of her old adventures with Caleb.   
At the end of the first day of travel, the Nein set up camp in a valley in the fields they were travelling through. As they set up the fire, Frumpkin jumped up onto your shoulder and curled around your neck. Fjord finished building the fire, and the group began to gather around the fire. “Molly, I heard from Jester that you know how to read fortunes, could you maybe read mine?” you asked, and Molly’s face lit up.  
“Of course I will!” Molly responded, pulling out the tarot cards from his coat, and set down the cards on the ground in front of you. You selected some of the cards, and Molly began the reading. “I can see a lot of lot of strife in your past,” Molly mused, turning over another card. The lovers card. “But in the future,” he took your hand, “I can see a great and passionate love,” he said, winking at you.   
At that, Caleb got up, walking into the woods. As he left, he looked back at the fire. You were laughing, and you put your hand on Molly’s shoulder. Caleb heavily sighed, and walked further into the woods trying to clear his head. All of a sudden, he realized that leaving you alone with a tipsy, flirty Mollymauk was not necessarily a good idea, so he sat down and popped into Frumpkin’s eyes. As he did, he directed Frumpkin to go lay down in your lap, and then started to feel bad about spying on you. You should be allowed to do whatever you want, even if that was…. Well, being with Molly.   
“Hey guys? Where did Caleb go?” you asked, looking around the fire.   
“I don’t know, he sometimes wanders off by himself,” Jester responded.   
And as she said that, you heard a very Caleb-like scream coming from the woods.


	6. Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wow, it truly has been a while. I write everything in a book so it is sucky when I don't have time to transcribe what I have written. In this one, we get to know what made Caleb scream.

The Nein all rose, running towards the woods that you had heard the screams coming from. As the Nein entered the woods they saw Caleb, frozen in place and nearing him, there was a large black bear. You made it into the woods last, your legs still a little unsteady from the days you spent unconscious. The second that you made it into the clearing you began to call forth the power that was stowed inside you, and what came to your hand was the magic missile that Caleb had sent into you while trying to wake you. You had never used that particular spell, and it felt odd coming to your hand, but from the pull that it had inside you, you knew that it was a powerful spell.   
The Nein saw you begin to glow a golden color, your hair seeming to lift a little from the energy that was being exuded from your body. You placed yourself between Caleb and the bear, raising your arm. A ball of blue light emerged from your hand, and splitting into 5 separate balls, all of which slammed into the bear, the bear roaring, looking very hurt. Nott immediately shot two bolts into the bear from her crossbow, and the bear collapsed. The second the bear was down, Nott rushed towards Caleb, taking his face into her hands . “Caleb are you okay, what happened?” she cried.  
“Ya, I vas just tapped and the bear took me by surprise,” Caleb said, his accent slipping into his voice. He, regardless of his words, seemed pretty shaken, but he began to slowly walk towards the camp. As the group all went back to the camp, you hung back to talk to Caleb.   
“Are you okay, Really” you asked him.  
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be okay:   
“I personally would have been so scared. I wouldn’t know what to do” you said, and Caleb could see the fear on your face.   
“You seemed to handle yourself well”  
“I didn’t want you, or anyone to get hurt” you yawned, rubbing your eyes, and Caleb felt his heart pound a little harder. He immediately felt disgust at how he felt. He couldn’t get attached to anyone. He was already risking so much just travelling with the mighty nein, but he corrupted everything he touched. He couldn’t bear to see that happen to you.   
Caleb decided that he was not going to get attached to you at all. At all costs he would avoid you. “I’m fine. Good night” he said. You felt a little confused about how suddenly Caleb seemed to grow cold towards you.  
“Good night Caleb” you said, taking your usual sleeping place under the cart that you had began to take once you had woken up. You listened to the quiet breathing coming from around the tents when the first watch began.   
The next morning, Molly was the first to wake up, stepping out of his own tent, and relieving Nott of her watch. Nott crawled back into her and Caleb’s tent to get more ready for the day. Molly began to boil water to cook potatoes and to reheat the pocket bacon that seemed to always be found somewhere in the group. Jester bounded out of the tent and began to set out some of the pastries from her haversack, and setting them out. The pastries were crumbling, and a little green at the edges, but Fjord grabbed one as he exited the tent.   
You stirred, slowly waking, feeling as if throughout the course of the night your magical batteries had been recharged. You slowly scooted out from underneath the cart, and gave the Mighty Nein a nod, tiredly stumbling towards the fire. Molly greeted you warmly, handing you a plate full of food. You smiled at him, asking “What town are we going to next,”.  
“There’s a small fishing town on the edge of the Ustenlach called Litenvann. We should make it there at some point today. Are you planning to leave us there?”   
“I would very much like a bath,” you said. “I wouldn’t mind travelling with you all without for a little longer, if you all would have me.”


	7. Litenvann

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh I think this chapter is around 1500 words. Oh boy. Well, the reader gets a makeover, and we begin to see Molly's pickup game. Caleb continues to avoid the reader, for fear of messing something up. Let me know who you like more with the reader....

“OOOH Y/N!” Jester exclaimed, a little too loudly for the early hour “Can I give you a makeover!”   
“Sure, Jester, why not?” you said, and Jester ran over to you, hugging you. Jester picked you up and held you at an arm’s length, looking at you with a critical eye.  
“Oh, you, my dear, have made a great mistake,” Molly drawled, seeming amused by the whole situation. For the remainder of the trip, Jester wrote in her notebook about you, drawing you with all sorts of different clothes. She first showed you a drawing of yourself in rogue’s attire, monk’s robes, even at one point she drew you in the Traveller’s deep green cloak. Then she began to draw what your hair should or could look like, bleaching and dyeing your hair with her inks, and excitedly showing you what she had drawn. Then came drawing tattoos on you like those on Molly, horns like hers, bandages like Nott’s. At a certain point you had to stop her and tell her that you really just wanted to be clean, and maybe get a dress was not in tatters.   
“Fine, I guess I won’t have fun then,” she said, looking saddened by your comments. You felt a little bad for the cute tiefling, and decided to amuse her.   
“I guess you could cut my hair too,” you sighed. Jester immediately perked up, her tail swishing back and forth, revealing her excitement.   
“I promise that I will make you look good!” she said excitedly.  
A few hours later, you noticed that Caleb, sitting across the cart from you was avoiding eye contact. You didn’t know what you had said, but you had to have done something wrong. Things had been going so well with the Nein. You asked Jester for some paper and ink, explaining that you needed to write something. She game you them to you and you wrote:  
“Caleb,   
I don’t know what I did or said, but whatever it is, I am so so sorry. I really want to get to know you and I want to get along with you, and the rest of the team. Please tell me what I did wrong.   
-Y/N”  
You folded the note into an envelope and tucked it into your sleeve. You would find some way to get it to him. As you tucked it in, Molly hopped into the cart with Nott, strutting over to you and Jester. “Jester, it is your turn to walk.”   
“What about me?” you asked.   
“Oh sweetheart, we would NEVER make a guest walk, especially one who has been with us for such a short time and is so lovely,” Molly said with a wink, “Caleb! That does mean that it is your turn to walk” he called across the cart.  
Caleb grumbled about it, but he got out of the cart, while Nott and Molly settled down into the cart. Nott sat down directly across from you, drinking heavily from her flask. “So, Y/N,” Nott began, “What are you most excited about coming into the city?”  
“I’ve never been allowed to the city on my own,” you replied   
“Why were you out in the woods the night we met you?” Nott asked, leaning in towards you.  
“Nott! We agreed that we wouldn’t ask her that yet!” Molly scolded.   
“It’s okay,” you responded “I probably owe you all an explanation. You have been very kind to me in taking me in”   
“You don’t owe us anything,” Molly responded, shooting Nott a glare. However, he seemed to want to know your story.   
“No. I’m going to be fine. However, I would rather explain it to everyone at once. I don’t want to keep repeating myself.”  
“That seems like a story for when we make it to the pub, then” Molly said.   
Within the next hour, you arrived to the town, and Jester quickly grabbed your hand, dragging you out of the cart. “Y/N and I are going to go find some shops. Message us when you guys decide where to stay!” she exclaimed. Pulling you away from the next of the Nein, and towards a store right inside the city gates, a clothing store that seemed to carry fine silken dresses and corsets.   
“Jester, I don’t think I will be able to afford anything here. I don’t have much to speak of as far as money goes.”  
“Don’t worry about it at all,” Jester said, puling you into the store. The shopkeep greeted Jester, barely looking at your tattered, dirty dress. Jester pushed you forward towards the shopkeeper, a beautiful elven women, while saying “I want her to look beautiful”.  
“I will try my best”, the shopkeeper told Jester, looking at you with a bit of a scowl, and beginning to run around the store, grabbing dresses and holding them up to your face, gauging the color with your skin. Suddenly, she pulled forth the most beautiful dress you had ever seen. It was a lilac dress with a pattern of flowers and songbirds running up the sleeves.   
“That one! You said the moment that she pulled it out. “I love it!” you exclaimed, holding it up to your body. “What do you think, Jester?”   
“You will look beautiful!” Jester said, turning to the shopkeep and handing over twelve gold pieces for the dress, more money than you had ever had. You grabbed the package containing the dress, with Jester continuing to drag you throughout the town. Your next stop was the bathhouse.   
Jester helped you scrub down your body, washing off the dirt from your clothes, the road and the matted blood in your hair. Jester then began to braid your hair into an elaborate series of braids, all while telling you how much she wished she had sisters and how Nott and Beau and Yasha never let her braid their hair. You put on your new dress, hair braided, and Jester studied you. She then pulled a small golden ring off of her finger and put it on yours. Then she pulled a chain off of one of her horns, wrapping it around your wrist. Jester stepped back, studying you and whispered to herself, “oh, caleb is so fucked.”  
At that moment you heard a shrill voice in your head “We are staying in the green stone tavern. You can reply to this message”  
“We are on our way,” Jester audibly replied.   
“Jester, we don’t even know where that is” you said, and Jester explained that the Nein had been through this town before. Jester led you through the hustle and bustle of the town when all of a sudden a small girl with a basket of flowers caught her eye and she ran off. You weren’t sure whether to follow her, so you stood back, looking at Jester animatedly talking with the little halfling girl, and then both she and the girl looked over at you. Your cheeks burned, and you looked down at your feet, embarrassed. When you looked up again, Jester was coming over with a bunch of daisies.   
“Why did you get those?” you asked  
“We are going to put them into your hair, silly” she said and began to poke the stems of the flowers through your hair. Finishing the last flower she said “you look so beautiful”. You continued to walk, Jester beginning to cut through alleyways until you reached a large tavern made of stone. There were wood framed windows and tables made from a beautiful amethyst outside of the door. However, the most stunning aspect of the building was the rich green lichen covering the whole building. The building gave off a strong vibe of magic. It was beautiful, and there was no wonder that the Nein wanted to stay there.   
Walking in to the pub on the first floor of the inn, you saw the rest of the Nein sitting at a table near the bar. Jester called towards them, and they turned to you. Caleb looked at you, eyes widening, and then he turned away and took a deep drink. Molly saw you and quickly got up from his chair, bounding over to you with drinks in both hands.   
“Darling, you look absolutely stunning with lavender on your skin. I’m sure it would look wonderful if it were on you in other ways too.”   
You flushed pink as Molly handed you one of the drinks, warning you that it was strong, and then said, “You look lovely in pink too. I wonder how far down it really goes.”   
Jester quickly chastised the purple tiefling, asking him how much he had to drink that night, but you welcomed the attention.


	8. Bedding arrangements

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And they were roommates. This is a lot of filler before the next big plot point, which is coming next chapter, when the reader explains where she is from.

After a few hours of celebrating a successful trip, and celebrating your addition to the group, you were decently drunk. Stumbling up to Caleb, you pulled the sorry note that you had written from your sleeve, with a quick hug and then you walked away. Caleb looked at the front of the note and quickly left, Nott trailing behind him.  
Another hour or so passed, and you started to get tired. And then you started to wonder. “Jester, where am I staying tonight?” you asked, stumbling over to the tiefling, and giving her a hug.  
“The only room right now with an open space is Molly’s” she replied  
“Alright,” you responded, giggling “He’s a good conversationalist, and he’s good at stories. Can I have the key?”  
“Maybe, you shouldn’t be walking by yourself Y/N” Jester replied. She walked you to your room, and pulling the key out of her coin purse, unlocking the door. Jester pushed open the door and..  
“God damn it Molly!” Jester exclaimed, looking in on the room which had one, massive central bed, and a few fruit platters resting on the foot of the bed, and a bottle of champagne set on the table at the side of the bed. She turned to you “Wait here, okay?”  
“Okay,” you said, sliding to the ground outside the door as Jester stomped down the stairs towards the bar.  
A few moments later, Jester climbed the stairs, grabbing on to Molly’s horns. Molly was bent over trying to put less pressure on his horns. He was protesting, “Jester, please be careful with the horns. You know they are sensitive. Jester I don’t know what I did. Jester please let go” Jester stopped in front of the door to your room, and Molly looked bashful and went “oh, that”  
“Mollymauk Tealeaf, what the fuck is this? Why is there only one bed?”  
“I got the honeymoon suite. The bed is always softer. And who would know where the night would end.” He said, winking at Jester, clearly pretty drunk.  
“Okay. You know what?!” Jester responded, walking down the hall and pounding on her and Fjord’s door.  
“No, Jester, its okay” you said. “Don’t rearrange anything for me. I’m already taking advantage of you all by not paying for my room.” You walked into your room, taking off your cloak and laying down on top of your bed, fully clothed.  
Molly strutted into the room after you, taking off the holster holding his swords. “Now that Jester had ruined my fun, I might as well go to bed” he said. “Mind if I sleep without a shirt, darling?” he asked you, and you shrugged. After all, he was paying for the room. You had no right to tell him what or what not to do. Molly began to take off his shirt, and you gasped. Molly’s torso was scarred, raised lilac lines looking almost like tiger stripes due to their multitude. He had a six pack, and tattoos were covering his whole chest, trailing down into his pants. Your eyes traced his tattoos, seeing snakes and peacocks, and you felt as if you could spend hours looking at his tattoos. “Feel free to look darling, but for some reason I feel like Jester would be very angry if you were to touch.”  
“Did it hurt?” you asked.  
“Did what hurt?”  
“The scars, did they hurt?”  
“I’ve gotten used to it,” he replied, “maybe I’ll tell you once you tell me where you are from?”  
“I will tell everyone. Together. Tomorrow.” You replied, turning towards the side of the bed, covering your face with one of the pillows. You felt the bed sink as Molly got into the bed, under the covers. As you drifted off to sleep, you felt Molly get out of the bed, but it was too much work to open your eyes to see what he was doing. You couldn’t help but to trust the Circus man. After about twenty minutes, you felt Molly’s weight come back into the bed, and you finally drifted off to sleep.


	9. Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some decently canon-typical violence in this one. The reader has a nightmare, and her magic lashes out. The Nein start to realize exactly how dangerous the reader could be.

Mollymauk awoke to your thrashing in the bed. Your limbs were tangled in the bedsheets. He knew what a nightmare looked like, and he reached you to try to shake you awake. Just before his hand touched your shoulder, he noticed that you were glowing slightly, like before. At the moment that his hand touched your shoulder, a bolt of radiant energy coursed through him. Molly was thrown back about 10 feet, groaning loudly as he hit the floor, and swearing.   
Caleb woke up next door to the sound of a bang and Molly swearing loudly in infernal, and he quickly got up, running towards the door, waking Nott, and exclaiming “I think Molly is being attacked, get up, I’m going to go help.” Caleb ran over to the door, and as he went to unlock the door using a spell, Molly threw open the door, chest heaving. Molly’s hair was messy , his pants slung low on his hips. Caleb suddenly realized that he should have realized that loud noises were common in Molly’s room. “Oh, Molly, I did not realize that you had a guest tonight. I did not think that this inn had company… available. I will just go back to my room now. Please try to be more quiet. Nott and I are trying to sleep.”   
“No, Caleb wait, I can’t wake her, and she’s doing a thing with magic. Please help me. I’m scared she’s not gonna be okay” Molly said quickly, opening up the door to reveal you, thrashing in the bed and glowing. Caleb suddenly understood what Molly had meant, and rushed in. Caleb most definitely understood what a nightmare was like. He walked over to your bedside and started to call your name softly.   
“Y/N, you’re okay, I promise, everyone is here for you, everyone is safe. It is going to be okay I promise.” Caleb said, starting to reach out towards you.   
The second he sat down on the bed, you called out “Jester, no, please no, don’t hurt her.” Your thrashing intensified, and you reached out towards the sky, grasping at nothing. At that moment, Nott came into the room, holding her crossbow and leveling it at you.   
“Nott, no, everything is okay she is just having a nightmare” Caleb said, quickly placing himself in front of you on the bed. Not quizzically turned her head, having seen the glowing light, so clearly magical, and your outstretched hand, but then she realized what was going on as well. Caleb kept slowly trying to bring you back to consciousness, and you let out a long, keening, almost inhuman wail, and something in Caleb broke. He knew exactly what would draw that sound from someone. “Nott, go get everyone else, I have a feeling she is going to want to see that we are all safe when she wakes”. Nott scurried out of the room, heading to wake the others.   
Caleb decided that regardless of what pain he would go through trying to wake you, it was worth you not living what you currently were. He reached out towards you, ready to shake you awake. Molly quickly moved towards him, warning him that you couldn’t be touched. The rest of the Nein came through the door right as Caleb touched your shoulder. The Nein saw a flare of golden magical energy surround Caleb, and saw Caleb’s face turn to a grimace, but he continued to shake your shoulder.   
You jerked awake, and looked up at the wizard, and then your eyes flickered to the golden aura surrounding you both. “Caleb what are you doing?!?” you yelled, quickly pulling away from the man, and scooting yourself down into the corner of the bed. Caleb quickly pulled away from you, seeming to somewhat shrug off the damage that he was taking. You continued to move backwards, away from the Nein, and ended up in the corner of the room. Caleb, who was looking pretty rough, looked over at the rest of the Nein.   
“We need to talk about this” Beau said, and you seemed to withdraw further into yourself.


	10. Waking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this is super short, but the next one is going to be super dark and I want it to be easily skippable. Also I am so sorry for the slow update, I moved house this last week.

Since you had woken up from your nightmare, you had considerably withdrawn from the person who, just yesterday had been joyfully talking to Jester, or winking at Beau before pointing a girl from the bar towards her. You were sitting in the corner of the room, staring at the Nein while they discussed what happened. Beau’s eyes had never left your form, and all of the Nein were holding their weapons. All of a sudden you saw Caleb pull the letter you had written him out of one of the many pockets on his coat. He passed the letter to Beau and her eyes darted over the words on the page and back to you. She looked back at the Nein, and seemed to concede to whatever they were arguing about.   
Jester began to walk towards you, setting her handaxe down on the bed. You, however, had seen more than most that people had the ability to hurt without using any type of weapon. “I’m so sorry Jester, I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. Please, please, don’t hurt me. I can’t control what I do when I’m asleep. Please don’t kill me. I’ll work up to buying healing potions, just please don’t kill me.” You said, scooting back in towards the wall as she approached.   
“Oh no no no, Y/N, there is nothing you need to do. I’m a healer, and everyone is okay.” Jester said, sitting down, hands outstretched in what she thought was a non-threatening way. You still looked terrified, but it seemed that when Jester had said that everything was okay, you looked less petrified. “Sweetheart,” Jester began, “ would you like it more if everyone put down their weapons?”   
You nodded frantically, and Jester looked at the rest of the Nein, gesturing for them to set down their weapons, and you looked over to see the Nein setting things down on the ground in the opposite side of the room and taking a few steps away from them. “Okay honey,” Jester said, sitting down n the ground in front of her, hands out. “I think you need to explain some things to us.”


End file.
